Wellbeing & Programs
St Bernadette's Primary School Ivanhoe
At St. Bernadette's Health and Wellbeing are central to our teaching and learning approach. We emphasise the holistic development of each student – encompassing emotional, spiritual, physical and intellectual growth. Wellbeing practices such as mindfulness, gratitude, a growth mindset and emotional regulation are explored and explicitly taught through our social and emotional curriculum as well as being integrated through literacy and inquiry.
Restorative Practices
Additionally, we are proud to be a 'Restorative Practices School,' employing proactive approaches to social skills teaching and conflict resolution. These practices equip students with tools to build positive relationships and resolve conflicts constructively.
The Resilience Project
Our curriculum includes weekly classroom lessons from The Resilience Project, which are evidenced based and focus on Gratitude, Empathy, and Mindfulness (GEM) to foster positive emotions and support mental health. Emotional Literacy is foundational to practising these strategies effectively.
Onsite Psychologist
Complementing our wellbeing practices and social and emotional curriculum, we are fortunate to provide individual counselling sessions for students and families who may require additional support. Onsite each Monday throughout the term, students and families are able to meet in a safe and familiar environment to work on and enhance their psychological health and social and emotional wellbeing.
Student Leadership
At St Bernadette’s, we prioritise student voices and actively respond to their feedback. Our Student Representative Council (Years 1-6) meets 2-3 times each term to explore ways to foster beneficial changes across our school community. Year 5 students are invited to apply to become Fire Carriers, while Year 6 students can apply for various leadership positions such as School Captains, Religious Education Leaders, House Leaders, Wellbeing Leaders, and Arts Leaders.
Buddies
The Buddy program helps to promote relationships and support between older and younger students through regular collaboration between their classes. This fosters a sense of whole-school community and creates friendships that enable students to bond more closely with their school.
Each year our new Prep students are partnered with a student in Year 6. During the Prep Transition period, Year 6 Buddies play an important role in familiarising Preps with the playground, ensuring they feel secure at recess and lunchtime, and assisting them in understanding routines and practices in the playground. This teaches them the values of caring for others, friendliness, respect, valuing difference, including others and responsibility.
Fire Carrier
The FIRE Carrier Program seeks to keep the Reconciliation flame alight in schools.
As a school and a community that acknowledges that our school is on Wurundjeri land, the FIRE Carrier project allows us to demonstrate our support and encouragement for Indigenous Australians through word and action, not only those in our local community, but also to all Indigenous Australian communities.
The purpose of this program is to provide opportunities for our school and community to develop awareness and understanding of Indigenous culture. Through this, we foster and encourage the development of relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous schools, the local and the wider community.
PAL
PAL (Play and Learn) clubs at St Bernadette’s offer students the opportunity to engage and participate in activities that they enjoy, socialise with groups of multi-age students, 'take a break' from the playground or try something new.
We have a variety of lunch clubs at St Bernadette’s which include:
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Chess Club
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Art and Craft club
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Games Club
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Library Club
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Kelly Club (dance)